Returning on May 25th, the Y-3 QASA HIGH is available globally at adidas.com/y-3, on CONFIRMED, in store, and through select retailers.
Source: adidas and Yohji Yamamoto Re-Introduce the Iconic Y-3 QASA HIGH
The rise and recovery of adidas began around the same time as the Y-3 was introduced. There is often a misconception about design cues and design language being driven by Kanye at adidas. A company as big as the Three Stripes is never controlled or identified by one person. Sneaker culture hands over all of the success of the adi to Kanye far too quickly. Ye didn’t have a brand in earnest until 2015 and by that time, for those of us deep into resale and trend forecasting, we were reselling the adidas Flux, Tubular Doom and we were entering a moment when the NMD would arrive.
When you really dive into this discussion, the UltraBoost had already arrived on the scene, but more important were the marketing moves adidas was making. There was a counterculture vibe at adidas showing up in adwork and in video. adidas was creating original music that charted on iTunes and they ran a campaign that won major advertising awards. Yeezy was rocking sneakers, but I could easily walk into a Foot Locker and grab the ZX Flux and they would be hitting for 150-200 a pair. The Y-3 Qasa wasn’t accessible, but adidas didn’t let down the low end. They delivered the Tubular series and those shoes were futuristic. They arrived in an all red and in monochromatic colors. There wasn’t any Boost, no hype, but adidas didn’t control distribution and they were blazing hot. Eventually the lack of control led to the flame burning out for adi by 2017, but 2013 was led by the design language of Yohji. Could adidas be heading back towards that moment? Could a revised Tubular series be on the horizon? Check out the photos of the upcoming retro of the Y-3 and think about this, Yeezy isn’t really driving the same engagement it once did. adidas has to begin building all of their internal brands. Beginning with Y-3 and then shifting into a new Tubular, Flux and NMD could amplify the sneaker race.